


But Soft, What Boy Through Yonder Window Breaks

by klanstability (Shanimalx)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: First Meetings, Humor, Keith as Flynn, Keith cradles Lance in his arms, Lance as Rapunzel, M/M, Rated T for language, Tangled AU, and Lance remembers it this time, guess who gets to see the floodgates open, i took a lot of creative liberties, keith is an Edgy Knife Boi, lance is a chatterbox who hasn't had anyone to talk to LITERALLY his entire life, otherwise its pretty pg, were switching it up folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-13 07:43:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15359595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shanimalx/pseuds/klanstability
Summary: This is the story of how Keith died.Don’t worry, this is actually a very fun story, and the truth is, it isn’t even Keith’s. This is the story of a boy named Lancepunzel, and it starts with the sun.Once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens and--Actually, you know what? I lied. This isn’t a fun story. And it isn’t Lancepunzel’s either. Honestly? He doesn’t deserve to have a story all to himself.This story belongs to the both of them, in equal measures, and it is very,veryaggravating.





	But Soft, What Boy Through Yonder Window Breaks

**Author's Note:**

> This work features commissioned art by the wonderful [Edelwary](http://edelwary.tumblr.com/)! It was such a pleasure working with them, and it came out so beautiful, I highly recommend you go [get your own art](http://edelwary.tumblr.com/post/174924071608/hello-everyone-with-summer-going-on-ill-have-a)!!
> 
> I really actually suck at remembering who betas my stuff because I have so many wips that I send it to so many people, but thank u ur all angels lov u muah
> 
> Rejected working title: Silence is (not a) Golden(-haired prince)

This is the story of how Keith died.

Don’t worry, this is actually a very fun story, and the truth is, it isn’t even Keith’s. This is the story of a boy named Lancepunzel, and it starts with the sun.

Once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens and--

Actually, you know what? I lied. This isn’t a fun story. And it isn’t Lancepunzel’s either. Honestly? He doesn’t deserve to have a story all to himself.

This story belongs to the both of them, in equal measures, and it is very, _very_ aggravating.

* * *

For most of his life, Keith lived dangerously.

He was easily the most skilled and notorious bandit in all of Corona, and he knew it. The bright kingdom cast a long shadow, and he was a master of living in it. So masterful in fact, that he had no idea just how infamous he was.

If he did, he would have run away a lot sooner.

But there’s a first time for everything, and the first time Keith caught sight of his wanted poster was right up there for the worst day of his life.

You see, the thing is, although Keith stole his way around the kingdom well enough that everyone knew who he was, no one had actually _seen_ him steal anything. Only a dark figure bumping into them in the streets right before they discovered their watch wasn’t on their wrist anymore, or a swish of a cape into an alleyway before finding that their shop’s till had been emptied.

This made tracking him down an absolute nightmare for the Royal Guards. Witness accounts were all over the place--one shop owner described him as wearing a skin-tight red pants, like some sort of Robin Hood character. Another insisted they caught sight of glistening golden jewelry around his arms and neck, his prizes from other jobs.

Of course, being the respectable thief he was, Keith wore neither of these things. His getup was black layers of soft, flexible fabric so as to conceal himself and his loot in the shadows. What idiot wore stolen jewelry out in the open, _to another job_? It was honestly no wonder there were so many thieves in the kingdom.

He’d even let his hair grow out so that it hung low over his eyes to obscure his identity better on the off chance someone did see him.

Which is why, when he caught sight of the cartoonishly long bangs on his wanted poster for the very first time, two emotions surged through him in rapid succession.

The first was outright flabberghast at such a horrid portrayal. The alley he’d been heading for was entirely forgotten as he caught sight of it pinned to the town message board. He tore it from the wall and scoffed loudly at the caricature glaring back at him.

“That’s not what my hair looks like!” he squeaked.

The second emotion was horror sinking deep in his gut at the realization that he’d made that exclamation out loud.

In the center of town.

In broad daylight.

With the Royal Guard on his tail.

_And the kingdom’s most prized possession in his satchel._

And that, dear readers, is why Keith was outside the city walls for the first time in his life, _running_ for his life through the forest, leaping over fallen branches and sprinting through the brush. He typically preferred to stay where there was plenty of food to be stolen and unsuspecting citizens to rob. Not to mention he hated the bugs.

He dashed through the trees, zig-zaggin left and right as much as he could to throw the Guards off his tail. He hoped that the deeper into the forest he ran, the less willing the Guards horses would be to navigate around the dense foliage. He swerved and leaped and ran and all those other words you’d use to describe someone running away from the cops. He did it all. He had to, lest he ruin his perfect record.

Then out of the corner of his eye-- _there_!

Hidden among the draping vines, Keith spotted a section of a stone outcropping to his right that was darker than the surrounding rock. Like a mouse scampering back to its hole in the wall, he made a beeline for it. The darkness was where he does what he does best, and this cave would be perfect for it. He’d lay low for a couple of hours until the Guards gave up their search, then start making his way back into the kingdom. Maybe he’d hop onto some merchant cart on the main road to sneak back in the front gates.

He backed up along the wall, crouching low behind a bush as the Royal Guard galloped past.

“Where’d he go?” one of called out as they trotted to a stop.

“Anyone have eyes?” another asked as he led his horse back around Keith’s rock outcropping.

Keith chuckled to himself. _No, you don’t have eyes. Blind as bats._

Then a gruff, commanding voice barked, “Search the area! He can’t have gone far.”

_Oh, mercy._

The Captain of the Guard. That voice never failed to make Keith’s pulse spike.

Keith inched along the wall, taking care to step on as few crunchy twigs as possible. He reached out to his right and felt along the stone, searching for the entrance of the cave.

“Check those bushes!” the Captain shouted, pointing to some shrubs not twenty feet from him.

_Ohhhh, mercy._

Keith kept his eyes on the soldiers closest to him, preparing himself to dash away should they spot him, when he felt the stone beneath his hand turn inward. _Finally!_ He slunk down to the forest floor and slowly wiggled under the vines that concealed the entrance. One wrong move, and the Guards would surely notice the vines mysteriously moving on their own.

“No sign of him, sir.”

The Captain let out a menacing growl. “Lieutenant, report back to town and tell them to double the security at the main gate. Search everything going in and out of the city. The rest of you, spread out. We search through the night.”

Well, there went his plans to sneak back into town. Looks like he’d have to wait this out for a couple _days_. He absently wondered how far the nearest neighboring town was.

The cave was deeper than he’d originally thought, and certainly brighter. It was already in shade and concealed by a thick layer of vines, but even as Keith shuffled back a good twenty feet from the entrance, there was still enough natural light that he could make out the fine details of the rock wall beside him. Then, he turned around.

The other end of the cave opened up to the most picturesque view he’d ever seen. Seriously, if the king knew this place existed, he’d certainly have it printed on all the postcards and tourism ads for Corona. If _Keith_ was king, he’d turn it into a vacation spot and milk it for all the gold it was worth.

It was like a little slice of heaven. Lush green grass dotted with wildflowers carpeted the ground in front of him and undulated captivatingly in the wind. To his right trickled a crystal clear brook, which disappeared into a hole in the rock face beside him. Smooth pale stone from the Northern Mountains surrounded him on all sides, a much grander barrier to this little oasis than the walls around the kingdom.

And right in the middle, glowing in the light of the late afternoon sun, a quaint little tower. Well, maybe not _little_. Keith knew that in all of Corona, no other building could ever stand as high, except maybe the Royal Castle.

The tower stood in the middle of a field, like it was someone’s summer vacation home, though he wondered absently why they’d built a tower instead of like, a huge villa. He supposed it was because a tower could offer better views.

He glanced back at the cave, which he realized now served more as a front door to this secret area than an actual cave. The Royal Guard were unlikely to find him here. If he was stuck for a few days while they continued their search, it was lucky he’d found someplace with an actual house to live in.

He approached the tower and wondered if anyone might be home. Would they turn him in? Keith pushed the thought from his mind. Anyone who lived out here in a place like this was probably a hermit. They probably didn’t even know who the king was, let alone a petty thief like him.

The base of the tower was made up of huge white stones, some bigger than Keith’s head. And they should be, to support the height of such a structure, but as he made his way around, there didn’t appear to be a door. Or a ladder. Not even a rope. Just... _weeds_.

Up close, the tower seemed infinitely higher than he first observed.

Keith pulled out the two knives strapped to his waist and took a deep breath. Time to start climbing.

* * *

 

By the time he neared the top, the sun had sunk low enough in the sky to cast half the meadow in the shadow of the mountain. The handles of his knives dug painfully into his palms and he heaved himself up another foot, forcing a blade into the crack between the stone bricks. If not for his gloves, his hands would surely be bleeding by now. His arms and legs shook from exhaustion. His usual exercise routine involved quick dashes up drain pipes, leaps over rooftops, and sprints into alleyways--he wasn’t built for this kind of endurance.

A thick bead of sweat rolled down his face.

_So close._

He wiggled the knife in his left hand free and wedged his right foot into a crevice on the next stone up. He took a breath and heaved himself up once more, sticking the blade into the highest crack he could reach. He let out a sigh of relief when-- _BAM_.

The shutters to the window at the top of the tower flew open.

The noise made Keith jump, and his foot fell from what little purchase he had. His heart pounded in his throat as his grip slipped from his knives, sending him plummeting from the tower.

Keith must not have been as high up as he thought.

He was down in a matter of seconds, landing in the brush at the base of the tower and tumbling out into the grass. Although not the comfiest thing to land on, he supposed it was better than falling on solid ground and breaking his neck. He lay there on his back groaning in pain before he opened his eyes to see exactly what the hell had just burst from the tower window.

“Hey!!”

Leaning further out the window than was probably safe was a young man around his own age (Keith guessed, though it was hard to see from all the way done here) waving his arms erratically. “Hey, you!”

Keith propped himself up on his elbows and glanced behind him at the cave he’d come in through. He sure hoped this boy’s yelling didn’t attract any Guards.

“Hey!! Who else do you think I’m talking to?”

Keith turned back to the boy in the window and scowled. If the Guards did find him here because of the noise this guy was making, Keith was gonna make sure to take him down with him.

“You’re here to rescue me, right?”

_Wait, what?_

“Excuse me?” Keith yelled back. A dull pain blossomed behind his eyes and Keith took in a sharp breath. He definitely had a concussion.

The boy draped himself dramatically over the windowsill and Keith’s heart leapt back into his throat. He really didn’t want to be this guy’s landing pad if he fell.

“Oh man!” the boy cried, “You don’t know how _boring_ it’s been up here. I’m so glad you’re finally here!”

“What are you talking about?” Keith shot back.

The boy moved to lean onto his elbows. “I’m talking about the fact that you’re the only person who’s wandered in here in the last 18 years besides my witch of a mother. Why else would anyone come to this dumb meadow?”

“I hate to break it to you, but I’m not here to rescue you.” Keith picked himself up off the ground and brushed the leaves out of his hair. “I don’t even know who you are!”

Keith could hear the boy spluttering even from down on the ground. “I’m Lancepunzel!”

Woah, woah, woah.

 _The_ Lancepunzel? As in the prince who’d been missing for the past 18 years, stolen away in the dead of night by a vicious witch that had plagued the town for decades? The prince that they held a special lantern ceremony for every year on his birthday in hopes that he’d return someday? _That_ Lancepunzel?

“You know, _the lost prince_?”

“Uh--I--yeah.” Keith stuttered.

“So? Are you gonna rescue me or what?”

Still a bit shocked, Keith managed to choke out, “I came here to hide, actually.”

Lancepunzel scoffed. “Yeah, well, I guess you’ve come to the right place then. No one ever comes _here_.” He sunk down to lay on the windowsill again. “Who are you, anyway?”

Who was _he_? He was the notorious Phantom Thief! The Black Bandit! Caped criminal and pickpocketer extraordinaire! One of the largest names in all of Corona, after the Royal Family of course.

He settled for, “I’m a thief.”

Lancepunzel hummed. “And I suppose you stole something you shouldn’t have? That’s why you need to hide?”

“Y-yeah.” Keith clutched the satchel strung around his body. After his fall, he didn’t think to check to see if the merchandise had been damaged. Broken loot is worthless.

“So,” Lancepunzel continued, picking away at the chipped paint of the windowsill, “watcha steal? Anything important?”

Keith swallowed thickly. “The lost prince’s tiara.”

Lancepunzel’s attention snapped downwards. “I have a tiara?”

“Yep.”

Well, more like _had_ , really.

There was a lull as Lancepunzel considered him. A cool wind blew down from the mountain and rustled the grass. Keith shivered. This was _quite_ the situation he’d gotten himself into.

“It was actually part of like a...shrine...thing,” Keith continued, eager to fill the silence in an attempt to drown out his pounding heartbeat. “They had it sitting out on a fancy velvet pillow in this big hall in the castle. There were at least a dozen Guards.”

There was a soft “damn” and Keith’s heart stilled for a moment. Was he… impressed? Keith did _not_ see that coming.

He supposed he was due the praise, though. It _was_ his most high-profile job to date after all, and it ended up a breeze. At least, up until the part where he accidentally blew his cover.

The prince leaned over the windowsill and shouted, “That’s pretty impressive!”

“Yeah I’m...I’m a pretty good thief, actually,” Keith preened. “I’ve never been caught. Maybe you’ve heard of me? The Phantom Thief?”

“The who?”

Keith frowned. “The Phantom Thief. You know, Corona’s most notorious pickpocket and burglar? Everyone knows the Phantom Thief. Or maybe you’ve heard of the Black Bandit?”

“I’ve been locked in a tower for eighteen years, _asshole_.”

 _Oops_. “Right.”

“So uh, I know you’re not here to rescue me, but could you help me down anyway? I kinda ran out of food a few hours ago, and I’m starting to get hangry.”

Keith set his hands on his hips and looked up at the prince, who was once again leaning lazily over the windowsill. “And how exactly am I supposed to do that?”

The prince made that “I-dunno” noise and shrugged. “It’s not my job to rescue myself.”

“And it’s not my job either,” Keith muttered to himself. For a prince, this guy was turning out to be a little less than pleasant. You’d think growing up away from the luxury of the castle, he’d learn a little humility. “Can’t you just climb down using my knives?” Keith pointed up towards top of the tower where his blades were still wedged into the stone.

Lancepunzel squeaked. “Are you kidding me? That’s dangerous! I’m a prince, I can’t do that!”

“I was doing it just fine.”

“Yeah, until you _fell_.”

“That’s only because you surprised me!” Keith scoffed. “Don’t you you have a ladder or something up there?”

“Uhh, do you have an eighty foot ladder in that _purse_ of yours?”

Keith self-consciously clutched his bag. “It’s a _satchel_.”

“Whatever.”

“What about rope? Could you tie your blankets together or something?”

Lancepunzel planted his palms on the windowsill. “Dude. Buddy. My guy. I have lived in this tiny, two-room tower for eighteen years. _Eighteen years_ ! My entire goddamn _life_ !! Do you seriously think that I wouldn’t have _once_ looked for a way out?”

“Uhh…”

He leaned further out the window. “I know this tower like the back of my hand. _Nothing_ in here is capable of getting me out,” he said, slapping his hands on the sill with every word, “ _or I would have done it already_!”

Keith huffed. “Alright, fine, there’s no need to get nippy, _your highness_.”

“Oh, don’t ‘ _your highness’_ me,” the prince sneered, “Just get me out of here!”

Dear lord, how on _Earth_ was Keith going to do this? In order to get down they’d need something almost a hundred feet tall, and nothing in this stupid meadow is even close to--wait. “How’d you even get up there?”

“The evil witch Haggar kidnapped me as a baby. I thought everyone knew that? Or do you guys just hold that lantern party on my birthday every year just for fun?”

Jesus, this guy was dense. “Yeah, I know _that_ , but how did you get _up there_? Like did she tie you to a balloon and fly you up or something?”

“How should I know? I was a baby!”

Keith pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Well then how the hell have you been living up there for the last eighteen years? You had to have gotten food somehow.”

“Oh, my moth--I mean _Haggar_ would travel into town every few days and bring stuff back for us.”

“ _Okay_ , and how did she get in and out of the tower?” Keith pushed.

“My hair.”

“--I’m sorry, your _what_?”

“My hair. It used to be really long ‘cause it had these cool glowy powers that healed stuff when I sang a special song, only the thing is, it stopped being magical if it was cut. Haggar told me that the whole world was out to get me because of my magic so that I’d be too scared to leave, but whenever I asked her about those lanterns that show up every year on my birthday, she’d get really cagey. So then last week I caught her by surprise as she was coming up, and I tied her up in a chair, and she spilled everything. Turns out I’m a prince! Isn’t that exciting?”

Keith blinked up at him, stunned. “Uhhh, yeah.”

“Oh, and also it turned out she was just using my hair to keep herself young for a couple hundred years. Creepy, right? So I cut it all off last week.”

...Powers? _Magic?_ What the-- “...what the _fuck_ , man?”

“Yeah, it fucked me up pretty bad for a couple days 'cause she disintegrated into dust after that.”

“Wh--?” Keith had no words.

“Right? It was kind of traumatic really, because she was the only person I’d known my entire life, and she _raised_ me, man. Even if she was just using me, she still took care of me, you know?”

This whole situation was just… way too much. Keith could barely wrap his head around it. So he pushed it aside. “Okay, okay. Ignoring like 95% of what you just said--because, wow, that is a _lot_ to unpack right now--where is your hair?”

“Same place as everyone else’s? On my _head_. Why are you asking me all these dumb questions?”

“No, uhg--” Keith growled. “Where’s the rest of it? The stuff you cut off?”

“Oh, I tied it up and stuck it in the closet. I was thinking of using it as thread if I ever ran out because it’s actually kind of sturdy--”

“Can’t you still use that to get down?” Keith interrupted. Damn this guy was a real handful. Hopefully Keith wouldn’t have to deal with him for long.

Lancepunzel was silent for a moment. “Hm. Yeah, I guess I could, now that you mention it.”

Keith threw his hands up in the air. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

“Oh! Right!” and Lancepunzel disappeared inside the tower.

Keith ran a hand down his face and groaned. This had really better be worth it.

“Okay!” Lancepunzel shouted from the window.

Keith looked up in time to see him throw something like a golden lasso around a hook that protruded from just above the window. Then the rest of it came cascading down in a flash of yellow. The end of it touched the ground with just about half a foot to spare.

Keith stared slack-jawed. _That’s a lot of hair._

He reached out and touched it. It was incredibly soft, and shiner than even some of the jewelry he’d stolen. It felt like almost nothing as he ran his fingers through it.

“Pretty great, huh?” he heard Lancepunzel call from the top of the tower.

Keith looked up the column of hair. _That’s a_ lot _of hair_. “This was all on your head?”

“Yep! It was kind of a nightmare to be honest. It’s gotta weigh like, at _least_ ten pounds. Though, it did give me something to do when I was bored. You wouldn’t _believe_ how long my haircare routine was.”

“But it’s _blonde_ .” Keith squinted up at the boy in the window. He was _definitely_ not blonde.

“Yeah, like I said, it loses its power when its cut. The power being the magical golden blondeness.”

Keith ran his fingers through the hair again. Magical golden blondeness, huh?

“Ok, you ready?”

“Huh?” Keith tore his gaze away from the golden strands in front of him to find Lancepunzel standing on the windowsill, clutching the hair out in front of him.

He put his hand to his forehead and sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t do this before. I spent _years_ looking for hidden staircases and escape ladders, but.. _I_ was my own escape ladder the whole time!”

“Uh huh.”

“Ok, here I go.” Lancepunzel tangled his hands in the hair in front of him and readied himself. Then he looked at the ground. “Oh boy.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Seeing as I’ve been _inside_ the tower for eighteen years, I’ve never done this before. I mean I’ve climbed my own hair before, but never from this high.”

Keith glanced at the mountains behind the tower--the sun had sunk low enough that nearly the entire meadow was shrouded in shadow. “Well, there’s a first time for everything. Now let’s go, it’s getting dark.”

“No, I mean… you might have to catch me.”

“Wait--catch you?” Oh, god, Keith was really gonna regret this.

“I mean it’s not that big of a drop, is it? It’s just a couple feet. No big deal. Mother did it all the time,” Lancepunzel reassured himself.

“...your highness? Can we go?”

“Wait! Oh my god, I almost forgot.” The prince disappeared into the tower again and Keith let out a sigh. He hoped Lancepunzel would make it quick. Keith had been running from the Guard for a long time. He was surely a good few hours from the kingdom, provided he could find a trade road that could lead him back. He wondered if there were any inns on the way.

“Ok. I’m ready now. Almost left without packing,” Lancepunzel chuckled. “Can’t leave without my journal!”

“Very nice, now can we get going, please?”

“Right, ok.” He took a deep breath and wrapped an ankle in hair as an anchor. “Here I come!” he called.

Lancepunzel pulled himself closer to the rope of his hair and swung gently away from the ledge of the windowsill. Bit by bit, he shimmied his foot lower and inched down.

"Oh hey!” Keith yelled, “Grab my knives on the way down would'ja?"

"What those?" Lancepunzel pointed to the blades poking out of the stone wall.

“Yeah. Careful, they're expensive!"

Expensive was an understatement. Those knives were custom made by the best blacksmith in town. The criminal one, of course, in the thieves’ guild in the underbelly of the city. It had cost Keith nearly a month's worth of pillaging to afford the set of four, but man were they worth it. They could cut through a bag handle like butter, and he was almost certain that, given time and effort, he might be able to cut through steel chains.

"Oh, they're also pretty sharp. So uh, careful not to dull the blades, 'kay?”

Lancepunzel looked down at him and immediately regretted it. "What, not--ohh my god. Big drop. Bad idea."

"Did you hear me? ‘Don’t damage them’?"

The prince took a moment to steady himself. Then, without looking down, he yelled, “I can't believe you care more about your stupid knives than me!"

Keith put his hands on his hips. "Well, in all honesty, your majesty, I literally just met you. And rescuing you to bring you back to your family really isn't in my best interests. I'm kind of a wanted criminal?"

"Yeah but--OOF!!" Lancepunzel leaned back and reached out to grab the first knife out of the wall. It came out with a satisfying metal _shink_ and the prince turned it over in his hand. "Wow, this is... actually a pretty cool knife."

Keith nodded proudly. "Now just hold it out over here, by the grass, point the blade down, and drop it." _Carefully..._

Lancepunzel did as he was told. The blade landed neatly to Keith's left and buried itself up the hilt. A perfect slice. Keith cleaned it off, and put it back in it's sheath.

The prince inched further down his hair to reach the other knife, swinging forward slightly to grab it. He pulled. It didn't budge. So he pulled harder.

"This sure is--stuck! Whoops." It suddenly unwedged itself from the stone and flung out of Lancepunzel's hand, sending the blade flying and the prince swinging wildly back and forth.

"What are you--!" It landed with a splash in the stream to Keith’s right. He ran over to the edge of the water, his heart pounding in his throat. If that damned prince--

He breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted the shimmering blade beneath the water. He was lucky he paid the extra cash to make them weighted and properly balanced, or else it surely would have been swept away by the current. He pulled it out of the water and wiped it dry on his pants before sheathing it on his hip.

Now to deal with Scaredy-punzel, still moaning and griping at the top of his tower.

“Hey, I'm still up here!! What if I fall?" he screamed.

"Stop your whining, you're not gonna fall."

"How do you know that?"

"Because even from all the way down here I can see how tightly you're gripping your hair. I'm not even sure you're gonna be able to make it down to the bottom, honestly. You might be stuck like that forever." Keith cocked his head with a smirk.

"What?? NO! GET ME DOWN!!"  The prince started to kick his feet, sending him into an even more dangerous sway.

"Wait, Prince--!" Keith pleaded, "you've got to stop swinging or you really are going to--"

And Keith's worst nightmare came true. One second, Lancepunzel's fists were curled into his hair as he threw a hissy fit, and the next, his royal highness was plummeting towards the ground...still wrapped up in hair.

Whether he really wanted to or not, Keith threw out his arms and dashed out beneath him. Lancepunzel landed with a huff, and Keith’s knees buckled dangerously.

The bundle of hair in his arms squirmed before a pair of shockingly blue eyes peeked out from a tangled golden lock. “See, I told you I’d fall.”

Keith glared.

“My hair’s too soft and well-maintained to be useful as a rope.”

[](http://edelwary.tumblr.com/)

“Ok, that’s it.” Keith let his arms go slack and turned on his heel.

The prince fell to the ground with a thud. “Ouch! What was that for? Hey wait! Where are you going?”

“You’re out of the tower aren’t you?” he called over his shoulder.

“Yeah…”

“Then there’s nothing left for me here. You’ve brought the only rope down with you, so now I’ve gotta find a new place to hide.”

There was an uncharacteristic silence behind him, and Keith had to fight the urge to turn around and find out why. This prince--this stranger--was not his responsibility. It was Keith’s hide on the line that brought him here in the first place. He had to stay focused.

 _Don’t look back, don’t look back, don’t look back_ …

“Hey, wait a second!” The prince grabbed his arm but Keith yanked it back.

“What do you want now?”

“I wanna offer you a deal.”

Keith kept his expression even. “A deal?”

“Yeah! See, I’m the missing prince, right?”

“Yes, we established that earlier.”

“Right, well, you’re a thief. A _wanted_ thief.” Lancepunzel quirked an eyebrow, as if Keith should know exactly where he was going with this.

“Are you just going to tell me things I already know or do you have a point?”

“Wait-wait-wait-wait. There is, okay? What if--and hear me out--what if you take me with you...back to the kingdom.”

After the job he just pulled and _barely_ got away with--not to mention the hundreds of other crimes he’s committed--going straight up to the castle in broad daylight was... well… Keith didn’t really know what. He knew it'd be capital-b Bad, but it was really more in the realm of being 100 times worse than capital-b Bad. He’d lose his notorious reputation for sure, and no one in his thieves' guild would ever offer him another job again.

And this whole prince business? Being cooped up in that tower for so long must have made Lancepunzel lose a bit of his sanity. Keith presenting himself to the Royal Family with the prince’s tiara in hand could only end up one way: with him in the stocks, and eventually death row. But with the _prince_ alongside him… would anyone believe him? Would anyone believe that this boy is really truly the lost prince, returned alive and well after all these years? Keith could hardly believe it himself.

And if they did believe it, the only logical conclusion to draw would be that Keith was an accomplice in his kidnapping. For that, he'd meet a fate worse than death, and that was _not_ something he was particularly interested in.

Keith deadpanned, “No,” and turned away again.

“What!” Lancepunzel shrieked, “Why not?”

“Because I’m a _wanted criminal_! You just said so yourself! They’d throw me in the dungeon before I even crossed the bridge to the mainland!”

“But that’s the thing!” Lancepunzel pleaded, grabbing his arm again. “Take me with you, and when they see that the notorious Black Banshee has brought the _lost prince_ home after eighteen years--”

“Black _Bandit_.”

“--they’ll see how good and helpful you are! They wouldn’t punish an innocent person, would they?

“I think you’re wildly overestimating the honesty of our justice system. You do know I rob people, right? On a daily basis? They chased me out here because I stole your _crown_.”

Lancepunzel shifted from foot to foot. “Yeah, I guess. But you also helped me escape.”

“So?”

“You didn’t have to.” He put his hands on his hips and cocked an eyebrow. “You said you were just looking for a place to hide. You could’ve just turned right around the second I opened the window.”

Keith kept his stare even.

“And,” the prince punctuated with a poke to Keith’s chest, “you caught me.” The sly smile that slid onto the prince's face sent Keith's stomach churning, and he could feel his cheeks flush. “Only a brave, _kind-hearted_ soul would’ve done that.”

“Shut up.” Keith mumbled, turning again, but the prince was right on his heels.

“As much as you say you’re a ruthless, stone-cold criminal, I think you’re hiding a big, squishy heart under this emo getup.”

“Enough, okay!”

“So you’re taking me with you right?” the prince said, skipping up next to him.

Keith shot him a look out of the corner of his eye, then heaved a big sigh. “Fine.”

“Yes!!”

“ _As long as I don’t get arrested_.” He had to make sure this was going to end well for him, that doing this thing wouldn’t get him in over his head. “You have to promise me you’ll make sure they won’t arrest me!”

“Yeah, okay!” the prince said, but he was already skipping ahead, twirling and doing cartwheels.

“Hey, no, not ‘yeah, okay’, I need your word on that!”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was my piece for the [Sharpshooter zine](https://sharpshooterzine.tumblr.com/), a free e-zine put together in honor of the best day of the year, Lance Day! It's got over 200 pages of amazing Quality Lance Content that you should DEFINITELY check out! Did I mention it's free?? (If you notice any differences between this and what's in the zine, it's because I accidentally submitted an older draft and realized it too late. rip me.)
> 
> While this was made to be a stand-alone piece, I've got the whole rest of the movie planned out that I'd _love_ to continue with. For now, it's 1/1 chapters, but you never know..........
> 
>  
> 
> more Quality Lance Content on my [tumblr](http://klanstability.tumblr.com).


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